ai4bharat/Pralekha huggingface dataset:
Special Service and Features
Sri Lankan Boat transporting 337 kgs Heroin intercepted
Acting on specific inputs, Indian Navy intercepted a Sri Lankan fishing vessel DU Shashila in the high seas in the last week. The vessel along with its Sri Lankan occupants were brought to Mattancherry Wharf, Kochi and on 19/04/2021, the Chennai Unit of NCB took over the custody of both from Navy. During the search and seizure formalities taken thereafter, a total of 337 Kgs of Heroin was seized from the boat. The narcotic drugs was found in the ice compartment of the vessel, concealed in 340 packets with marking of CROWN symbol with words “KING 2021” on each packet. It is common for drug trafficking organisations  operating from the infamous death crescent region to mark their contraband. The investigation so far reveals that the seized Heroin was sourced from the Makran Coast in a different boat, which had then delivered the Heroin further to the Sri Lankan fishing boat DU Shashila in high seas. The Sri Lankan vessel was to take the contraband further to Indian, Maldivian and Sri Lankan destinations. The Makran Coast, which lies in the territories of Pakistan and Iran in the Baluchistan region, is considered to be a major port of origin for Afghan Heroin.
Based on the seizure of narcotic drug, incriminating evidences and their confessional statements under NDPS Act, all the five Sri Lankan sailors, namely M. Wimalasiri, M. Somasiri, H.A. Peiris, W. Pereira and A. Pereira, have been arrested for attempt to traffic substances under NDPS Act in Indian territorial waters.
The increased maritime trafficking of Heroin and other drugs sourced from the Afghanistan-Pakistan Region has been on the rise in the last few years. DTOs based in Sri Lanka and supplying drugs to multiple countries in the South Asian and South East Asian region including India smuggle large quantity of drugs this way. This seizure is the 4th occasion where drug transporting Sri Lankan vessels being intercepted by the joint efforts of NCB, Indian Coast Guard and Indian Navy in the last six months. The other three incidents are as follows::
|
|
Date
|
|
Narcotic Drugs/ Psychotropic
Substances seized
|
|
No of Sri Lankan
nationals arrested
|
|
25.03.2021
|
|
300.3 kg Heroin
|
|
06
|
|
08.03.2021
|
|
No contraband seized. However,
investigations reveal that the vessel
carried 100kg of Hashish and 150kg
Methamphetamine which the crew
jettisoned on seeing the Indian authorities approach them
|
|
06
|
|
26.11.2020
|
|
95.8kg Heroin
18kg Methamphetamine
|
|
06
NCB acknowledges the dedicated efforts of Sh. Amit Ghawate , Sh Suresh Kumar  and other officers associated with the case at NCB, Chennai Zonal Unit.
This is stated in a press release issued by IRS Zonal Director.
Special Service and Features
Kerala should strive hard to reach national average in implementing Jal Jeevan Mission: Union Minister of State Shri Prahlad Singh Patel
Kochi : July 06, 2023
Shri Prahlad Singh Patel, Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries and Jal Shakthi said Jal Jeevan Mission is a milestone initiative by the Central Government through which the government aims to give tap water connections to all households by 2024.
The Union Minister, who arrived in Kerala for a two-day visit, was interacting with media persons in Kochi today. Sharing his happiness, Shri Prahlad Singh Patel informed that about 20 days back, tap water connections reached more than 12 crore families and added that now the national average of the mission is above 63 %.
But unfortunately, in a state like Kerala which is known for education and resources, the implementation level hasn’t reached even 50%. In this, Shri Prahlad Singh Patel urged the Kerala government to strive harder to go hand-in-hand with the national average as this initiative is for the common man.
He said that providing tap water connection costs more in Kerala per family when compared to other states. Hence the Central Government is ready to support as the State Government is the better agency to implement the project. The Union Minister added that the Central Government's motto is that no family, district or state should be left behind in getting the benefits of the schemes.
As a part of the two day visit the Union Minister will attend various programmes in Palakkad tomorrow including the inspection of Jal Jeevan Mission, Swatch Bharat Mission and interaction with residents of Thirumittacode village in Palakkad.
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Ministry of Textiles
DC Handicrafts, Ministry of Textiles participates in first Virtual Bharat Parv-2021 celebration
DC, Handicrafts, Ministry of Textiles is participating in first ever Virtual Bharat Parv-2021 being organized by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India in conjunction with Republic Day celebrations.Due to pandemic situation, this year the Bharat Parv has been organized on a Virtual platform www.bharatparv2021.com from 26th Jan to 31st Jan 2021.
DC, Handicrafts participates in Bharat Parv every year and this year artifacts of 11 master Crafts persons including 6 Awardee artisans are being displayed showcasing stone craft, art metal ware, sikki grass craft, tikuli craft, wood carving, gulabimeenakari, toy craft, glass flame work, dhokra craft, doll making and craft of papier-machie along with one stall solely dedicated to Vocal for Local initiatives.
The virtual Bharat Parv-2021 was inaugurated by the Speaker, Lok Sabha, Sh. Om Birla in the presence of Union Minister of State  for Tourism and Culture Sh. Prahlad Singh Patel on 26th January 2021.Ministry of Tourism organizes Bharat Parv every year since 2016 in front of the ramparts of the Red Fort on the occasion of Republic Day Celebrations. The event envisages generating patriotic fervor and showcases the rich and varied cultural diversity of the country. In Bharat Parv 2021 many pavilions of Central Ministries, State Theme Pavilions, Food Festival / Studio Kitchen from various states and UTs, Handicrafts, Handlooms, Folk performances, Performances by cultural troupes from various States and UTs etc. are being showcased to exhibit the spirit of ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’.
Ministry of Power
“We are one team and should work together to provide electricity connection to every poor household in India”, says Shri RK Singh at the Conference of Power and New & Renewable Energy Ministers of States & UTs.
Says center ready to provide more funds for infrastructure creation if needed
“We are one team and should work together to provide electricity connection to every poor household in India. Access to energy is a prerequisite for a poverty free India. Energy is the engine of growth and no country can ever develop with millions of its citizen living without electricity” said Shri RK Singh, Union Minister  for Power and New & Renewable Energy. The Minister was addressing the Conference of Power and New & Renewable Energy Ministers of States & UTs held at Shimla today.
The conference which saw participation of Power Ministers and Secretaries form the States/UTs and senior officials from power and renewable energy  sectors deliberated upon various issues pertaining to the power and RE sectors in India. Various Government programs were taken up for discussion such as - Power for All, Saubhagya, IPDS, UDAY and RE sector during the one day conference.
Calling the DISCOMs as the axis of power sector, the Minister called upon the states to plug DISCOMs losses. He said that subsidies in power sector should be routed through Direct Benefit Transfer .
Talking of infrastructure creation in States, the Minister highlighted slow utilization of the funds approved by the center. He also said that center is ready to provide more funds if needed for infrastructure creation and the States meeting their targets speedily will be incentivized.
Calling the prepaid meters a pro poor step, Shri Singh said that today a poor person may find it difficult to pay one month’s electricity bill at one go. Smart prepaid meters will enable him to pay in small installments as per his convenience without the fear of his connection being cut. It’ll also eliminate the problem of wrong bills being raised.
Talking of reforms in power sector, the Power Minister said that affordability is the key and a mechanism need to be put in place so that power from most efficient plants is utilized first. This would bring down electricity prices.
On the issue of coal shortage, Shri Singh said that supply of coal has increased but coal problem is persisting because our demand is increasing which is a good sign for the development of our country. Listing various steps taken to address coal shortage, he said that states have been given freedom to import coal if they needed so. At the same time efforts are being made to start new mines and increase transportation capacity.
On renewable energy front, Minster said that it has tremendous potential but balancing need to be done by power generated from hydro and gas. He also cautioned that hydro and gas should serve as peaking load not based load. He also mentioned that the Government was bringing Hydropower Policy to address various issues facing hydro power sector.
The Minister said that he would make every effort and work in collaboration with States to ensure that every citizen of India has round the clock power supply.
Ministry of Steel
SAIL achieves all-time best annual production in Financial Year 2022-23
The Steel Authority of India Limited , a Maharatna public sector unit under the Ministry of Steel, has achieved the best ever annual production during the financial year 2022-23 ending on 31 March 2023.
During the period, the company recorded 19.409 Million Tonnes  of hot metal and 18.289 MT crude steel production with a growth of 3.6% and 5.3% respectively over the previous best. The company is continuously ramping up its production over the years with a focus on more value added and special steels production.
Ministry of Food Processing Industries
Smt Harsimrat Kaur Badal takes charge as Union Minister of Food Processing Industries
Smt Harsimrat Kaur Badal,assumed charge of her office as the Union Minister of Food Processing Industries for a second term here today.
This is the second stint of SmtBadal as Minister of Food Processing Industries after holding the same charge under NDA 1 from 2014 to 2019.
During her time as the Cabinet Minister her main achievements include the successful organisation of World Food India 2017 , successful operationalisation of Operation Greens to arrest the fluctuation in prices of tomato, onion and potato, giving a major boost to food processing in India by way of inauguration of 17 Mega Food Parks, fast tracking of approvals of cold chains and other projects et al. The Minister notably led efforts of Indian food processing sector towards relief efforts in Kerala in 2018.
SmtHarsimrat Kaur Badal is a Member of Parliament from Bathinda, Punjab and a member of Shiromani Akali Dal. This is her third consecutive stint as an MP from Bathinda after being a part of both the 15th and 16thLok Sabha from the same constituency. Smt Harsimrat Kaur Badalhas done her schooling from Loreto convent school, New Delhi and subsequently pursued a three-year course in textile design.
RM/SS
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Ministry of Textiles
Ministry of Textiles approved 18 R&D projects valuing INR 46.74 Crores across different areas of Technical Textiles
Union Minister of Textiles, Commerce and Industry and Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Shri Piyush Goyal said that Industry and Institute’s pro-active and robust engagement is essential for the indigenous development of technical textiles in India, while chairing the 7th Meeting of the Mission Steering Group  of National Technical Textiles Mission in New Delhi today.
Ministry of Textiles approved 18 R&D projects worth INR 46.74 crores across key strategic areas of Geotech, Protech, Indutech, Sustainable Textiles, Sportech, Smart E-Textiles, Meditech segments during the 7th MSG meeting.
Among these 18 R&D projects, 14 are high value Projects, 3 are Prototype Grant projects and 1 is Ideation Grant project. The projects cover different application areas of technical textiles including 1 Projects from Geotech, 2 of Protech, 2 Indutech, 2 Sportech, 5 Sustainable Textiles, 3 Meditech, 3 Smart & E Textiles and 1 Geotextiles were approved. The approved projects were led by institutes and research bodies including BTRA, ATIRA, IIT Delhi, IIT Jammu, NIT Jalandhar, IIT Kharagpur, CSIR New Delhi, IIT Madras, among others.
The Union Minister reviewed the progress of different components of National Technical Textiles Mission including review of sanctioned R&D products, R&D projects in Mission mode, Formation of a committee for Startups in Technical Textiles under GREAT Guidelines, Outreach activities and events including 6th Edition of MOT-FICCI-BIS National conclave on Standards & Regulations and Meditex conference in July and September 2023, respectively.
Emphasis should be on R&D for globally highly imported technical textiles items, apart from import-dependent technical textiles items and specialty fibres in India, he further added.
Besides, the progress on the Education, Training & Skill Development front was also reviewed by the Union Minister wherein 26 applications from 15 Public and 11 Private institutes valuing INR 151.02 Crores were approved for introducing papers, procuring laboratory infrastructure and training of trainers across different application areas of technical textiles.
Senior officials from NITI Aayog, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Ministry of Heavy Industries, Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Department of Expenditure, Department of Higher Education, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade and members from other Ministries, and eminent members from the industry attended the meeting.
Vice President's Secretariat
Vice-President appoints Prof. Renu Cheema Vig as the Vice Chancellor of Panjab University
The Vice-President, Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar, who is also the Chancellor, Panjab University appointed Prof.  Renu Cheema Vig, presently the Dean of University Instruction , as the Vice Chancellor of Panjab University, today.
Exercising the powers conferred by Section 10 of the Panjab University Act 1947, Shri Dhankhar made the appointment of Prof. Vig for a term of three years.
It may be noted that subsequent to the resignation of Prof. Raj Kumar as Vice-Chancellor of Panjab University, Prof. Vig, was Acting Vice Chancellor since January 16, 2023.
Consequently, the Hon’ble Vice-President constituted a three member Search-cum-Selection Committee on March 21, 2023 for recommending names for the post of Vice Chancellor, Panjab University. Prof. Renu Vig’s appointment follows from the committee’s report.
Election Commission
Statement by ECI
A report appearing in The Tribune today, i.e., 28th July 2020, titled “J&K polls after delimitation” is attributed to Shri G.C. Murmu, Hon’ble Lieutenant Governor , J&K. Similar statements of LG were earlier reported by The Hindu dated 18.11.2019; News18 dated 14.11.2019; Hindustan Times dated 26.6.2020 and Economic Times  dated 28.7.2020. Election Commission takes exception to such statements and would like to state that in the Constitutional scheme of things, the timings etc. of elections is the sole remit of Election Commission of India. Before deciding the timing, the Commission takes into consideration all the relevant factors including topography, weather, sensitivities arising out of regional and local festivities in the area where the election is to take place. For example, in the current times, Covid 19 has introduced a new dynamic, which has to be and shall be taken into consideration at the due time. In the instant case, the outcome of Delimitation is also germane to the decision. Similarly, availability of central forces and railway coaches, etc. for the transportation of CPFs are important factors. All this is done after meticulous homework by the senior officials of the Commission and a detailed assessment in due consultation with concerned authorities. The Commission itself schedules a visit to the concerned State wherever required and holds extensive consultations with all the stakeholders. It would be proper for authorities other than Election Commission to refrain from making such statements which virtually tantamount to interfering with the Constitutional mandate of Election Commission.
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Ministry of Electronics & IT
CERT-In hosts Cyber Security Exercise “Synergy” for 13 countries as part of International Counter Ransomware Initiative- Resilience Working Group
Exercise “Synergy” aims to exchange best practices among Member-States to build network resiliency against ransomware & cyber extortion attacks
Exercise conducted by CERT-In in collaboration with Cyber Security Agency of Singapore
Indian Computer Emergency Response Team  under Ministry of Electronics & IT, Government of India, in collaboration with Cyber Security Agency of Singapore , today, successfully designed & conducted the Cyber Security Exercise “Synergy” for 13 Countries as part of the International Counter Ransomware Initiative- Resilience Working Group which is being led by India under the leadership of National Security Council Secretariat.
The theme of the exercise was “Building Network Resiliency to counter Ransomware Attacks”. The exercise scenario was derived from real life cyber incidents, in which a domestic level  ransomware incident escalates to a global cyber security crisis.
Exercise “Synergy” was hosted by CERT-In on its exercise simulation platform. Each State participated as a National Crisis Management Team having composition from different government agencies including National CERTs/CSIRTs, Law Enforcement Agencies , Communication & IT/ICT Ministry and Security agencies.
The specific objective of the exercise was to Assess, Share and Improve strategies and practices among Member-States to build network resiliency against ransomware & cyber extortion attacks.
Exercise “Synergy” was successful in meeting its objectives and provided insights for better coordination & cooperation among CRI Member States to build network resiliency and counter ransomware attacks.
Ministry of Railways
CHAIRMAN RAILWAY BOARD RELEASES E-PASS MODULE UNDER HRMS PROJECT DEVELOPED BY CRIS FOR ONLINE PASS GENERATION AND TICKET BOOKING BY RAILWAY EMPLOYEES
Employees will be able to apply for pass online from anywhere and get the E-Pass generated online
Railway officials need to travel across distances for official work. This will Boost operational efficiency of officials
Chairman Railway Board has launched E-pass module of Human Resource Management System  developed by CRIS through video conferencing which was also attended by FC/Railways, all Board Members, CMD/IRCTC, MD/CRIS, all GMs, PCPOS, PCCMS, PFAs and DRMs.
DG/HR briefed about the various aspects of the e-Pass module and its phased implementation strategy.
Process for issuance of pass have been largely manual in IR. Also there was no facility for booking of ticket online on Pass for Railway employee.
The E-Pass module has been developed by CRIS under HRMS project and will be rolled out over Indian Railways in phased manner. With this facility Railway employee is neither supposed to come to office for applying for Pass nor has to wait for pass being issued. Employee will be able to apply for pass online from anywhere and get the E-Pass generated online. Complete process of application and generation of Pass is mobile friendly. Ticket booking on pass may also be done online on IRCTC site apart from earlier facility of counter booking from PRS/UTS counter.
This facility will help Railway employee in using their pass hassle free and simultaneously make working of all officials involve in issuance of Pass smooth.
HRMS project is a comprehensive plan for digitization of complete HR process of Indian Railway. Total 21 modules has been planned in HRMS. Basic data entry of around 97% railway employees has been completed in Employee master and E-Service record modules of HRMS which had been launched last year.
CRIS is also going to launch Office order module and settlement modules of HRMS very shortly .
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
India’s Cumulative COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage exceeds 148.67 Cr
More than 91 lakh Vaccine Doses administered in the last 24 hours
Recovery Rate currently at 97.81%
90,928 New Cases reported in the last 24 hours
India's Active Caseload currently stands at 2,85,401
Weekly Positivity Rate is presently at 3.47%
With the administration of more than 91 lakh Doses  vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 148.67 Cr  as per provisional reports till 7 am today.
This has been achieved through 1,59,06,137 sessions. The break-up of the cumulative figure as per the provisional report till 7 am today include:
|
|
HCWs
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
1,03,88,544
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
97,28,815
|
|
FLWs
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
1,83,86,576
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
1,69,32,565
|
|
Age Group 15-18 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
1,27,60,148
|
|
Age Group 18-44 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
50,73,76,164
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
34,33,77,115
|
|
Age Group 45-59 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
19,54,13,276
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
15,36,92,217
|
|
Over 60 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
12,18,98,867
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
9,68,25,940
|
|
Total
|
|
1486780227
19,206 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours and the cumulative tally of recovered patients  is now at 3,43,41,009.
Consequently, India’s recovery rate stands at 97.81%.
90,928 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours.
India’s Active Caseload is presently at 2,85,401. Active cases constitute 0.81% of the country's total Positive Cases.
The testing capacity across the country continues to be expanded. The last 24 hours saw a total of 14,13,030 tests being conducted. India has so far conducted over 68.53 Cr  cumulative tests.
While testing capacity has been enhanced across the country, Weekly Positivity Rate in the country currently stands at 3.47% and the Daily Positivity rate also reported to be 6.43%.